And so it begins. The BBC may be one of the first UK organisations to face a public backlash for differences between how much male and female employees are paid, but it certainly won't be the last.
New UK government rules and public pressure will see to that, making it vital that those firms which fall within the government's reporting criteria are fully prepared to deal with any criticism that comes their way following the publication of their gender pay figures.
Yet while this move will rightly shine a light on gender pay discrimination and the issues that exist in the UK, the incoming regulations leave a lot to be desired. If public shaming is going to be the stick used to coerce larger employers into reducing their gender pay gap, then the reporting should be an accurate reflection of the gender pay and bonus disparity within the workplace.
But it is more than just reputational damage and public shaming that firms may have to worry about when they release their gender pay data.
The publication of the BBC's annual report illustrates the real litigation risk for corporate employers arising from the publication of gender pay data, amplified by public indignation arising from the fact that these salaries are paid by the license fee. Two-thirds of those earning over 150,000 are men. However, the real story here is that the report also suggests the BBC may be in breach of equal pay laws if it cannot show that men and women are being paid equally for doing the same or comparable jobs.
Typically, an employer will show this by establishing factors that legitimately differentiate pay, such as levels of responsibility, nature of work, experience and geographical location. This will be a tough sell when the presenters are in the same studio sat at the same desk.
That's why, in a well-rehearsed interview on Newsnight on Wednesday evening, the BBC Director of Radio and Education, said that any two presenters at the BBC that have exactly the same job, same experience, same history and the same audience value are paid the same.
The deadline for publication of the gender pay gap data is April 2018. To date, circa 30 employers have published their results. These now appear on the government website, searchable by name and sector, for employees, unions and the press to see.
The legal sector will need to follow suit.
But the chasm in the gap analysis for the legal sector is that equity partners pay is excluded from the reporting requirements. Therefore, the data reported for law firms will show associate and salaried partners only. Some may question whether this means the data for the legal sector is fundamentally flawed.